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It was a delightful day when we got the news of being invited for the Google Partner Summit and being upgraded to a Premier Google Partner. So when the time came, Rohit & I packed our bags and took the journey to cover 13,876 kms from Chennai to San Francisco. The journey was not just the distance, but the fact that at the Summit we were amongst 900 partners around the world, who together controlled about 8% of the global digital advertising spend. It was indeed a delightful experience to be part of it.
“Now is our Moment” was an apt theme for the Google Partner Summit with multiple interactions with senior Google product managers and account managers interspersed with knowledge on how to manage talent as well as clients. It was a holistic agenda to help agencies like us succeed.
While a lot of the inputs provided at the Summit were confidential, we have summarized what we are allowed to share. Below were the 5 key takeaways for us:
Be there in the moment – Being there in the moment in the mobile first world is key and there was indeed a lot of discussion on the usual topics of mobile responsivness as well as website speed. There was discussion around the growing adaptation of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and infact Social Beat has already implemented AMP as well. With the responsive ads that Adwords has launched, the ads become a lot more immersive and adaptable to any device/ad unit size allowing brands to be there in the moment.The challenge with mobile has been that almost 75% of the audience start the interaction with the brand on one device, but complete it on another device. So measurement and tracking of ROI becomes a challenge. Fortunately, some tools like Optimizely help us resolve this.
Measure across devices, channels, offline – Measurement being key, there was discussion around multi device, multi channel and offline measurement since many visitors who search online do visit the retail store. We do have an interesting article on how search can help offline and omni channel retailers in India. While store visits as a conversion metric is already live in Google Adwords, there are many more exciting developments that we can watch out for in the online to offline measurement.
Leveraging Video for Brand Building & Sales – There is no doubt that video is the fastest growing medium in the digital space and many brands are creating engaging yet low cost videos for better brand recall and sales. Lucinda Barlow, Global Director of YouTube marketing pointed out that “There are only two things Americans do more than watch video: sleep & work” and that’s the reason why digital video is going to be even bigger going forward. YouTube has lined up some interesting features for ecommerce and omni channel retailers so watch our blogs for more info on this.
Virual Reality / AR – Part of the swag given by Google was the Cardboard which gave us a glimpse into the low cost Virtual Realty but what amazed us was the Google Day Dream (with Pixel) which is a very immersive VR experience and with devices becoming better and cheaper we are surely going to see more of them around. The experience brands can provide via VR is going to be a game changer and we look forward to exploring it. While Adwords is yet to integrate to VR/AR we do see that happening in the near future.
Machine Learning – Machine learning not only refines the experience we get at Google but is also helping agencies like us with programmatic advertising, some of which we have started experimenting with our clients using Double Click. Its only going to get better, allowing brands and agencies to deliver relevance at scale.
Apart from the product learnings, it was amazing for us to network and meet Google Partners from around the world and we even got to visit Googleplex and interact with product managers one on one (though we cannot share the details of these discussions yet).
Highlights from the Social Beat Digital Marketing Industry Report 2016:
Brand Awareness & Lead Generation are the primary goals for most brands
Measuring ROI from digital marketing is the biggest challenged faced
87% brands leverage digital & 38% of them allocate 1/3rd budget to digital marketing
Facebook & Google are still the most popular digital marketing channels
Bangalore, 18th Jul 2016: The Digital Marketing Industry Report 2016 was released by Social Beat, one of South India’s leading digital marketing agencies. The report is based on a survey conducted in May-June 2016. A total of 376 CMOs and Marketing Heads across India participated in the survey. The companies that participated in the study were from various sectors and verticals including e-Commerce, FMCG, Media/Entertainment, Healthcare, Education, Real Estate, and Travel.
Speaking on the report, Social Beat Co-Founder Vikas Chawla said “The report highlights the rise of digital marketing, though brands continue to use television and print mediums to have a 360-degree approach. It was encouraging to see that 87% of the brands surveyed leverage digital marketing. While brand awareness and lead generation/sales seem to be the primary goals set by the CMOs, digital marketing is increasingly being leveraged for Customer Engagement (46%) and customer service (35%) too.”
Speaking about the survey, Suneil Chawla, Co-Founder of Social Beat, said “Around 10% brands surveyed spend more than Rs. 1 crore annually on digital marketing while around 50% brands spend more than Rs. 6 Lakhs annually. Overall, 20% brands plan to increase their digital marketing spends by 25% in the next financial year. This is important in the context of growing internet and digital penetration in India – brands understand that digital is the way forward. With an expected 500 million internet users in India by 2017, brands understand the massive opportunity to reach out to their consumers.”
David Appasamy, who has recently joined Social Beat as Head of Brand & Strategy, added “The survey reflects the growing acceptance of digital platforms as an excellent means of engaging meaningfully with consumers, generating leads and increasing sales. It was particularly interesting to see that the digital marketing channels are already contributing to more than 30% sales for at least 40% of the brands surveyed.”
Tracking Return on Investment (ROI) is the biggest challenge being faced by brands, closely followed by content creation, quality lead generation and attracting talent. Currently, CMOs are using Sales / Leads, Engagement, Brand Reach and Mentions as the metrics to track the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Vikas added, “Most of CMOs that took the survey felt that they there is a lot of scope for improvement in quality lead generation, result tracking and creative campaigns. This presents a massive opportunity to digital marketers to fill the gap and help leverage the digital medium more effectively for brands”.
India is a significant market for social media giants. We have 100m+ users on Facebook and over 33 million users on Twitter. Mobile web penetration has also been one of the main contributors in the active social media usage. Almost 84% of the 100 million users on Facebook access it through their mobile phones. Keeping all of the above mentioned facts in consideration, it is fair to conclude that the reach on social media is exponentially huge and for brands to tap on this opportunity would result in a vital growth for their businesses
Reputation Management, Thought Leadership & Recruitment have been added to the objectives to achieve alongside community building & brand engagement on social media.
Facebook continues to be the predominant social media platform for engagement. Google+ and LinkedIn evolved as social media platforms to reach out to professionals across the country (highly relevant for B2B industries). Apart from these two platforms, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest have also emerged as highly engaging & crucial platforms to spawn conversations with the TG.
Brands have become observant of the frequency of updates on social media channels & response time from the audiences. Most of the top social media savvy brands in India engage with their fans once a day through multiple platforms. The point worth noting here is that the average response time is 1-5 hours per engagement.
The study indicates that with the popularity and expanding reach of social media, around 90 per cent of Indian brands plan on dedicating 15% of their annual marketing spends to social media.
The study also highlighted that brands across various industries have realized the implication of tapping on social media channels and understood its peculiar demands.
How do brands in India function digitally?
Most of the Indian brands have their social media strategy & content aligned to meet their business goals. However, there are brands that have their social media strategy in place but do not have it linked to any specific goal.
Many companies have an internal team dedicated for curating social media content & strategy whereas there are few which outsource them from agencies. Mostly Indian brands work on a hybrid model where the internal core team is supplemented by social media agencies & consultants. However, when it comes to the execution part of a social media campaign/strategy the brands turn to social media agencies which run the campaign online.
Market trends and Customer Insights are the key drivers for the brands to formulate their strategies for social media.
Brands are looking at a 360 degree marketing approach and are including social media as a key channel for deploying campaigns along with traditional channels.
Mobile app development is an area that is being explored aggressively since it adds another advertising medium in the bag. Considering that a lot of users access social media channels through their smartphones & tablets, mobile advertising will emerge as a crucial channel for marketing.
Understanding customer perception of the brands, effective monitoring of the brand sentiment, efficient handling of customer queries and better customer insights are some of the benefits that the brands have secured by integrating social media marketing with social listening.
What’s the next big thing?
The study also states that Social CRM, Social Commerce & Gamification will be the future for the brands to explore and harness their growth on.


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In our current digital age, staying connected has never been more important. Given that shopping and working online can now happen 24 hours a day, one of the chief considerations for any consumer has become quality home broadband.
With Internet speeds set to increase across the UK this year, it is also a case of staying on top of the latest deals and technologies, ensuring you get what you pay for. A spokesperson for BT confirms: ‘Speeds of up to 80mbps will be available to 10 million homes this year and that number will rise over the next few years to close to 90 per cent of all residencies, with the help of government funds’.
The UK is now paving the way as the world’s seventh-largest country in terms of broadband subscribers. With countless deals on offer, it is crucial to be informed about the essential aspects of your home broadband, before you take the leap of faith that could define your online experience.
Ensuring that you choose the right download limit for your personal Internet usage will mean that you don’t end up paying more than you have to, or alternatively, going over your limit.
As a general rule, light broadband users should pick a package with a limit of between 1 and 10 GB, whereas those who browse the web and download a lot of data should consider between 30 and 40 GB per month.
A popular tool that could greatly improve your chances of better internet, the broadband speed test can easily be carried out to analyse any type of connection, including ADSL, cable and fibre-optic and 3G mobile. Conducting a speed test is quick, easy and free, and may well be an essential wake-up call for you to switch providers if the speed you are getting is not up to scratch.
Location, location, location
According to the Global Online Shopper Report, the average UK consumer now spends 25 per cent of their annual salary online, and around six hours a month shopping on the web. Thus, ensuring that your chosen home broadband gets reception in your particular area is crucial. Most providers will allow you to check this online, simply by entering your postcode.
Packages and prices
With today’s competitive market, it is easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of low-cost offers, which may end with you paying much more once you read the small print. Dominic Baliszewski, a broadband website representative, warns, ‘Don’t be dazzled by the lowest cost, as package features such as download allowance, connection speed and contract length will all impact upon your experience as a customer’.
Keeping informed, and being able to stay savvy in the face of tempting deals, is key to selecting your ideal home broadband. Other nuggets of know-how, including being able to conduct a speedtest, will also greatly decrease your chances of disappointment and frustration in your home broadband package.

domain: news


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It is forecast that a sharp drop in Korea’s surplus in the trade of intermediate goods (materials and components needed to make final products) which accounts for most of exports to China will lessen Korea’s trade surplus with China in the future.
According to a report titled “Changes in Korea’s Surplus in Trade with China and Their Implications” released by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy on August 4, Korea's trade surplus with China sank 40 percent to US$37.5 billion last year from US$62.8 billion in 2013. The ratio of surplus to the volume of trade with China increased from 13.5% in 1993 to 25.4% in 2004 and 27.4% in 2013, but fell to 17.7% last year.
Analysis says that the drop in trade surplus with China was attributed to the fact that the Chinese government pursued import substitution policies, regulated processing trade, and Korean companies expanded production in China. Since the late 2000s, the Chinese government encouraged companies to use Chinese-made products centering on capital and intermediate goods through a domestic growth strategy. Ultimately, the policy hit Korea as intermediate goods accounted for more than 80% of Korea’s exports to China.
Researchers pointed out that the size of the trade surplus is likely to continue to shrink. This is because China is promoting its own production of major products exported by Korea such as semiconductors, display panels, automobile parts, and petrochemical products, while domestic demand for Chinese products is increasing in aerospace parts, robotics and pharmaceutical materials.
"We need to differentiate our products from Chinese products by adding high added value to and developing high technology for parts and materials," the research team suggested, "We need to strengthen our customized supply capability corresponding to new import demand that will be created by changes in China's industrial policies."


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FanDuel Group recently announced a new partnership with the National Football League that makes the online gaming company an official sportsbook partner of the NFL in Canada.
The deal allows FanDuel to use the league's name in a variety of different ways, including but not limited to contests and free-to-play games.
FanDuel will also be permitted to hand out NFL-themed prizes and access the league's other intellectual property. The company will be featured in league-related media as well.
The partnership in Canada is similar to the one the two parties share in the United States and comes in the wake of FanDuel launching its online sportsbook in Ontario back in April. The competitive market for online sports betting in Ontario is the first of its kind in Canada and has allowed more than 15 bookmakers to legally launch in the country’s most populous province.
Ontario’s iGaming market has opened the door to companies that are well-known among sports bettors in the United States, such as FanDuel. Some of those operators are now counting on their official partnerships to help introduce themselves to sports bettors in Canada, who may not be as familiar.
"We're thrilled to extend our partnership with the NFL to Canada," said Dale Hooper, general manager of FanDuel Canada, in a recent press release. "Ontario sports fans are passionate about American football, and this collaborative effort will bring them more ways to enjoy the sport with friends and family in a fun and responsible way."
Adding a Canadian-level partnership with the NFL expands FanDuel’s link to the league across North America. It also follows a similar deal the league announced with government-owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
The June 29 press release noted that FanDuel will continue to develop its partnership with TSN, one of the largest sports media brands in Canada and the exclusive broadcast partner of the NFL in the country. FanDuel’s sports-betting information and product will be integrated into TSN broadcasts to create an immersive experience for viewers, the release said.
In keeping with the NFL’s integrity policies, FanDuel said it intends to work with the league on intelligence sharing and to use official league data. FanDuel has made responsible gaming a big part of its pitch to Ontarians as well and plans to continue that approach.
"With the FanDuel partnership in Canada we are able to provide fans with unique and entertaining experiences that will continue to drive high engagement for both organizations," said Gavin Kemp, director of corporate partnerships at NFL Canada, through a press release. "FanDuel is an established global leader in the gaming space and we are excited to bring Canadian NFL fans even closer to the game."


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RBI NEW BANKNOTE
India's new Home Minister Amit Shah: In his own words
Amit Shah on rallies in a parliamentary constituency with a large Muslim population: "Can't make out if it's India or Pakistan."
RBI to soon issue Rs 10 banknotes bearing sign of Governor Shaktikanta Das
All banknotes in the denomination of Rs 10 issued by the Reserve B...
Can RBI policy be the blueprint for world's central banks?
Passive inflation and the central bank’s full tank of gas make the case to cut eve...
Dash for growth at Ramdev's Patanjali leads to stumbles
Patanjali also suffered, like many others, from Modi's 2016 ban on high-denomination banknotes.
RBI says it will issue Rs 50 banknotes signed by Governor Shaktikanta Das
The design of these notes is similar in all respects to Rs 50 banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi new series, the RBI said.
RBI to issue new Rs 20 note: Here are all the details
RBI said all the banknotes in the denomination of Rs 20 issued by the Reserve Bank in the earlier series will continue to be legal tender.
View: Cashless India could be a model for the world
With fair competition between local players and global tech, a 10-fold growth in digital transactions may not be a pipe dream.
RBI proposes mobile app to help visually impaired to identify currency notes
The RBI has solicited bids from technology firms for developing the mobile application.
The rise of India's new billionaires (and the fall of the old)
The number of billionaires in India more than doubled to 119 between 2013 and 2018.
Nepal arrests Yunus Ansari: Kingpin of Fake Indian Currency Notes
India has been pressing Nepal to take action against Yunus Ansari accusing him as a kingpin of FICN network.
Cannes: Taiwanese actress who made film on industry abuse was 'slapped 30 times' during early career
Wu was publicly punished for having the temerity to ask the director a question.
Reserve Bank of India issues norms for banks to set up currency chests
The new chests should have a processing capacity of 6.6 lakh pieces of banknotes per day.
RBI exploring mobile phone-based solution to help visually impaired identify banknotes
Currently, intaglio printing-based identification marks are present in banknotes of Rs 100 and above for helping the visually challenged identify them.
Banknotes printing cost rose to nearly Rs 8,000 crore in demonetisation year: Govt
The expenditure on printing of notes during 2015-16 was Rs 3,421 crore.
RBI proposal: Varnished banknotes in your wallet soon
RBI proposes to launch varnished banknotes on a field trial basis, as per its annual report for FY17-18 released today.


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Onion imports increased ahead of Eid
Sunbd Desk || Published: 2021-07-18 13:24:43 || Updated: 2021-07-18 13:25:48
Indian onion imports have increased ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. Onions are coming to the country through Hili land port in Dinajpur. According to the port authorities, onions are being imported in 35-40 trucks a week.
It is learned that the import of onions is going on through land ports as the government of Bangladesh has allowed the import of onions and lifted the ban on onion export (IP) by the Government of India.
Harun Ur Rashid Harun, president of the Hili Land Port Importers Group, said on Sunday that onion imports at the port were going on at the same time. The amount of imports is fluctuating a bit. However, onion imports through the port have increased, port sources said.
- Perpetrators deliberately tarnish country’s image: PM
- Singapore removes Bangladesh from travel restriction list
- Putin will not attend COP26 climate summit
- Stop excessiveness over religion: PM urges all
- PM for stern action over attack on Hindu community
- BNP fuelling to stage communal riots across country: Quader
- PM urges people’s vigilance against 1975-like carnage
- Oman thrash PNG in T20 WC opener
- Rohingyas, stranded Pakistanis exerting economic pressure on Bangladesh: PM
- World’s largest eco-tourism project, TRDSC, to takeover its neighbor: CEO
- American Express joins Amazon network to benefit KSA cardholders
- Dubai’s DP World to invest $414.8m in London Gateway port
- Bangladesh-Australia agreement signed to boost trade and investment
- Gold imports in india increased by 200 percent
- Aluminium prices risen to 13-years high
- World’s largest defense and security show kicks off in London
- Tk 3 thousand crore new incentives for farmers


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Somewhat Positive Media Coverage Somewhat Unlikely to Impact Crocs (CROX) Stock Price
Media stories about Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX) have been trending somewhat positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment. The research group ranks the sentiment of news coverage by analyzing more than 20 million blog and news sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Crocs earned a news impact score of 0.16 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave press coverage about the textile maker an impact score of 46.1056838682758 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the near term.
Here are some of the news stories that may have impacted Accern Sentiment’s analysis:
- Crocs, Inc. (CROX) Now Covered by Pivotal Research (americanbankingnews.com)
- Zacks.com featured highlights include article Crocs, Guess', Craft Brew Alliance, McCormick & Company and Pilgrim's Pride (finance.yahoo.com)
- 4 Top Liquid Stocks for a Winning Portfolio (finance.yahoo.com)
- Consumer Space Looks Chic: Buy PVH Corp (PVH) to Gain Share (finance.yahoo.com)
- Don't Panic About Market Volatility: Buy 5 Low-Beta Stocks (finance.yahoo.com)
Crocs (NASDAQ CROX) traded up 0.52% during midday trading on Friday, reaching $9.70. 372,767 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The company’s market cap is $696.08 million. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.18 and a 200 day moving average of $7.63. Crocs has a 52-week low of $5.93 and a 52-week high of $9.90.
Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 9th. The textile maker reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $313.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $311.33 million. Crocs had a negative net margin of 0.91% and a negative return on equity of 3.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Crocs will post ($0.03) earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BidaskClub cut shares of Crocs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Crocs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Susquehanna Bancshares Inc restated a “positive” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective (up previously from $7.00) on shares of Crocs in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Crocs from a “d” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. Finally, Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Crocs in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $9.50 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Crocs currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.75.
TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: “Somewhat Positive Media Coverage Somewhat Unlikely to Impact Crocs (CROX) Stock Price” was first reported by Watch List News and is owned by of Watch List News. If you are reading this piece of content on another website, it was illegally copied and reposted in violation of U.S. & international copyright legislation. The original version of this piece of content can be accessed at https://www.watchlistnews.com/somewhat-positive-media-coverage-somewhat-unlikely-to-impact-crocs-crox-stock-price/1612988.html.
Crocs Company Profile
Crocs, Inc is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sale of casual lifestyle footwear and accessories for men, women, and children. The Company’s segments include Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. Its products include footwear and accessories that utilize its closed-cell resin, called Croslite, as well as casual lifestyle footwear that use a range of materials.
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Ireland’s biggest fuel forecourt supplier Topaz has moved to cement its position as market share leader by announcing plans to open a 24-hour motorway service station on the Cork to Dublin motorway.
Owned by Canadian company Couche-Tard since early 2016, Topaz remains ahead of rivals such as publicly-owned Applegreen, which has around 15% of the fuel market share, and Maxol, which declined to reveal its market share.
Topaz, which has an estimated 35% fuel market share in the Republic, will open the new station at junction 14 on the M8 near Fermoy in Cork.
It will open another at junction 5 on the M9 near Rathcrogue in Carlow. Both will be serviced with McDonald’s restaurants.
The Fermoy development is due to open in autumn 2017 and will be just off the junction near Teagasc at Moorepark West. Between the Fermoy and Carlow developments, the company will invest €14m, while McDonald’s will invest €2m.
Between the Fermoy and Carlow developments, the company will invest €14m, while McDonald’s will invest €2m.
Topaz said it would create 230 jobs in conjunction with McDonald’s across the two motorway service areas.
There have long been calls from commuters for a service station along the busy Fermoy junction because of the lack of options for motorists until they get to Leinster.
There has been a frenzy of activity by the various companies in the past year as they attempt to increase their market share, with Topaz, Applegreen, Maxol and others opening new fore and food courts.
Food and drink offerings are now seen as vital to stay in touch with direct competition and global names such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway and Costa Coffee, as well as Irish outlets Supermac’s, O’Brien’s Sandwich cafe and Abrekebabra, have partnered with the fuel operators to offer more choice to consumers.
There has also been speculation Canadian fuel giant Irving Oil, which owns Ireland’s only oil refinery at Whitegate in Co Cork, could enter the Irish fuel forecourt business.
Irving owns around 800 fuel forecourts in Canada and upon its takeover of Whitegate last August, the company did not rule out entering the Irish market.
Topaz has 438 stations across Ireland, including its recently acquired Esso station network, with 160 owned by Topaz and 278 by dealers.
Applegreen, which has 330 sites, reached a deal in January to pay €15.7m for a 50% stake in the Joint Fuels Terminal in Dublin Port, which it says will allow it to import fuel directly from refineries.
Maxol, Irish owned since 1919, has over 230 stations.
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved


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Idaho potato display contest runs twice as long
11/21/2014 11:52:31 AMThe Idaho Potato Commission is doubling the length of its annual retail display contest. The Potato... Watch Video.
Give ordering the attention it requires
11/21/2014 9:45:07 AMAsk any produce director and they will attest: there’s no single important task a produce manager... Read more.
Melissa’s focuses on Dutch Yellow potatoes
11/19/2014 2:57:23 PMLOS ANGELES — World Variety Produce, which markets under the Melissa’s brand, introduced its latest... Watch Video.
Produce for Better Health promotes new ambassadors
11/18/2014 12:12:11 PMThe Produce for Better Health Foundation recently added new members to its Ambassador program. According to... Read more.


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Motorola launched the Moto G5 and the Moto G5 Plus in MWC, 2017 at Barcelona last month. Motorola has announced on Twitter and Facebook that it will launch the Moto G5 Plus in India on March 15. There has no mention of the regular G5 but Motorola is expected to announce the launch of G5 in this event.
Now that the launch date of the smartphone is getting closer, we are getting to know about the details of the official partners that are going to sell the phone in India. Flipkart has started to tease the Moto G5 Plus launch and states that the Moto G5 Plus will be exclusively sold via Flipkart. Flipkart already has a ‘notify me’ feature on its website where a user can register with email and can get notified about the launch.
Moto India has already setup a live stream on Youtube for Moto G5 Plus’s launch where the launch event can be seen live by the fans.
Both, Moto India and Flipkart took to Twitter yesterday to announce about this with seperate tweets stating about the launch date and flipkart-exclusivity. Also worth noting is that the official hashtag of the Moto G5 Plus seems to be #uncompromise.
— Flipkart (@Flipkart) March 7, 2017
For the specifications, the Moto G5 Plus has 5.2 inch screen and it runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, has a 12-megapixel f/1.7 snapper with dual-focus pixels and it can record 4K videos from the camera. The front camera is a 5-megapixel shooter and the smartphone runs on latest Android 7.0 Nougat. Moto G5 Plus houses a 3,000mAh removable battery and the smartphone is compatible with Motorola’s TurboPower fast charging technology.
For the Moto G5, the phone has a slightly smaller 5 inch screen and runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430 chipset. The Moto G5 has a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front facing camera. On the software front, the Moto G5 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box. The Moto G5 is powered by a 2,800mAh removable battery.
As for the Moto G5 Plus, we will know all the details about the device on March 15 and the price of the smartphone is expected to be around Rs 15,000. We will keep you updated about the Moto G5 Plus as we know more on March 15. Stay tuned.


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Tickets for the third
Grant's company, Race On, has added incentives for buying tickets early, guaranteeing a paddock pass — a $45 ticket to enter the garage where racing teams set up for the event — for fans who reserve seats by Jan. 15.
While the best reserved seats will cost $185 for a three-day pass, as they did last year, Race On introduced a new, lower-price reserved option for $90 and lowered general admission tickets by as much as $20 and junior tickets by as much as $30 to try to attract more families.
“We’re pleased to announce an enhanced ticket structure for 2013 that will appeal to casual fans and hard-core racing enthusiasts alike,” Grant said in a news release.
A private sale for fans who purchased reserved seats last year starts today and runs through early January. Information on VIP packages and suites will be released at a later date.
Tickets will be sold at grandprixofbaltimore.com.
The news release announcing the sale notes that grandstand 11, situated on
Race On agreed to a more limited deal with promoter Andretti


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Commissioner Jordan makes holidays bright for local families
Top row, from left: The Barry family looks on as Commissioner Jordan presents Christmas gifts to the family of seven children; the Jones-Pearson family marvels at their new bicycle; the Mulkey family holds their $500 check. Bottom row, from left: A child from Ophelia Brown Headstart receives her gift; the center’s staff, parents, and children proudly display their gifts.
MIAMI GARDENS – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara J. Jordan made Christmas wishes come true for about 140 children at the Ophelia Brown and North County Headstart centers, located in Miami Gardens. Children walked away with dolls, remote control cars, games, action figures, costumes, and more.
“My career started in Headstart and it will always be a part of my heart,” Commissioner Jordan told Headstart parents who attended the toy giveaway Thursday. Children ranging in age from 3 to 5 years old smiled as they sat on Santa’s lap and received a free toy from Commissioner Jordan, who also donned a Santa’s hat.
Jenny Sanchez, director of both of the Headstart centers that received the donations, expressed her gratitude. “Every year the commissioner makes donations and the parents get so excited. They love the event. They always ask, ‘When is the giveaway?’”
In addition to the toy drive, Commissioner Jordan‘s giving spirit assisted four less fortunate families from her district. The Jones-Pearson, Mulkey, Woods, and Barry families received food baskets, a bike, tickets to Santa’s Enchanted Forest, and a gift card for $500. The families noted that they will use the funds to purchase additional food, toys and household goods.
“So many struggling families don’t get to experience the joy of the holiday,” Commissioner Jordan said. “Any day we can put a smile on people’s faces, we do.”
Commissioner Jordan’s toy drive was sponsored by Walmart, Corcel Corp., The Falic Family Foundation, Florida Power & Light, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.


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ITC is doing booming well today despite the poor market. Though the stock opened 1% lower at Rs.309.05, it soon rose to hit a new 52-week high at Rs.316.95, up over 1.5%.
There is no new material development in the company but its just value buyers getting into the stock. Fund houses and other investors are probably getting into the stock on account of commodity prices coming down and with hospitality business expected to do well, what with people travelling like never before. The fund houses are banking on lower raw material prices giving impetus to better performance of FMCG sector.
There is also a buzz around about value unlocking through divestments, though nothing new from the company has come forth on this.


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China's robotics industry catches up, eyes on higher development
China has been the world's largest consumer of industrial robots for eight consecutive years.
Photo shows a general assembly line of Estun Automation, a Chinese robot manufacturer headquartered in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province. [File photo]
According to statistics released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the country's robot industry reported revenue of over 100 billion yuan (about $15.7 billion) for the first time in 2020. From 2015 to 2020, the output of industrial robots surged from 72,000 sets to 212,000 sets, with an average annual growth of 31 percent.
So far, industrial robots have been applied in 52 industrial divisions and 143 industrial groups in China, including automobile, electronics, metallurgy, light engineering, petrochemical and medicines.
China's robotics industry has generally established a whole industry chain system that covers spare parts, finished robots, and integrated application, said Wang Weiming, an MIIT official. A number of domestic industrial robot brands are emerging, which are striving to become top-notch globally.
Estun Automation, headquartered in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province, is a listed Chinese robotics company that owns complete independent core technologies. It is one of the leaders among Chinese manufacturers regarding industrial robot sales.
Technical director of the company Qian Wei said that following a path of independent innovation, Estun Automation spends around 10 percent of its revenue on R&D. Over 80 percent of the core parts used on the company's robots are independently developed by the company, Qian said.
ROKAE is another Chinese robot manufacturer. Though the young company has been established for no more than seven years, it is seeing robust growth in its business. The self-developed xCore control system of the company is a strong performer among its Chinese peers.
Co-founder Han Fengtao of the company believes that Chinese industrial robots enjoy advantages in the competition with foreign products.
"China has the world's largest market of industrial robots, and the market is expanding with huge potential. Localization is a must for foreign products to win a share in the Chinese market, but domestic manufacturers are obviously closer to Chinese enterprises and are in a better position to learn the latter's demand for industrial robots," Han explained.
According to a development plan for the robot industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) issued at the end of 2021, China will build itself into a global hub of technological innovation, high-end manufacturing and integrated application in the robotics industry.
During this period, China aims to achieve breakthroughs in a batch of core robotic technologies and high-end products, and the average annual growth of the robotics industry is expected to exceed 20 percent. The country will also nurture a number of globally competitive and innovative manufacturers of robots, and build three to five industrial clusters with international influence. Besides, the number of robots employed in the manufacturing sector will double.
An engineer debugs an industrial robot that's about to be delivered at a workshop in a robotics industrial park in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, Jan. 17. [People's Daily/Long Wei]
By 2035, China will become a leading country in the robotics industry, and robots will contribute a major part to economic development, people's daily life and social governance, according to the development plan.
At present, Chinese enterprises are recruiting talents both at home and abroad, learning from advanced overseas experience, and building a global industrial chain through cross-border mergers and acquisitions, to actively exploring new paths of development.
For instance, Estun Automation has acquired, held and invested in many foreign enterprises over the recent years, through which it has rapidly built a whole industrial chain. Besides, the company has also established a R&D center in Europe.
Industrial robots are being tested at a workshop of a robot manufacturer in Hai'an Economic and Technological Development Zone, east China's Jiangsu province, Jan. 5. [People's Daily Online/Zhai Huiyong]
Qian said with a bold human resource strategy, Estun Automation owns core intelligent control parts and solutions developed by its employees from multiple countries, including the U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany and Italy, and has built technical expert teams in robotics and smart manufacturing. It is working to establish a global research network and a multi-level research system that are globally competitive, he added.
ROKAE kicked off its global development strategy last year, too. It has built an R&D center in Japan to absorb advanced experience from the world.
"We'll accelerate our global research strategy and are planning to establish a European R&D center. Hopefully we'll build ourselves into a world-class enterprise in robotics technology by 2025," Han said.


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While surfing this morning, I stumbled across this post over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun revealing that id Software has released a trio of new Rage screenshots on the Bethdesa Blog. The screenshots come along with a redesign of the game's official website and profiles of developers John Carmack, Tim Willits, and Matt Hooper. Those profiles don't reveal anything new about the game, but the fresh screenshots sure do look purdy:
You can find the other two, plus a higher-resolution copy of the above shot, in the gallery below.
Rage is due out for the PC and consoles on September 13, breaking a long tradition of id games that were released "when it's done" rather than on a specific schedule. The official release date was actually announced way back in August. At the time, lead design Tim Willits promised the "biggest, coolest, and most badass launch possible." Way to manage expectations, Tim. There's already no shortage of anticipation for this title, especially among PC gamers itching for something to take advantage of the latest and greatest graphics hardware.
|New iPhones drive record Apple results||42|
|MSI's X99S MPower motherboard reviewed||1|
|Join us Wednesday evening for a TR Podcast live stream||3|
|First-person parkour zombie-fest Dying Light is out now||23|
|Unreal Engine 4 demo blurs line between rendered and reality||62|
|EVGA unleashes four new ambidextrous gaming mice||5|
|Cloud surge, Surface sales buoy Microsoft's quarterly results||57|
|Details leak out on AMD's first Zen-based desktop CPUs||129|
|Some 840 EVOs still vulnerable to read speed slowdowns||82|


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Asus has been crushing it with their gaming products; NVidia today announced a slight refresh to their G-Sync spec, bringing it on par to AMD’s FreeSync 2.0.
The G-Sync spec now supports HDR, and ASUS’s new ROG Swift PG27UQ is one of the first monitors to use the new G-Sync spec; not only that, but it’s also one of the world’s first 4K monitor with a refresh rate of 144Hz.
ASUS is using the very-new quantum dot technology for the display; Samsung has been making quite a fuss about that lately.
At 27-inch, the screen size isn’t bad too; at 4K, that puts the display at a comfortable 163 PPI.
Since this is a 4K 144Hz monitor, ASUS didn’t have a lot of options to choose from when it came to connectivity – after all, very few standards support these high-end specifications.
The monitor comes with HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort 1.4; but the HDMI 2.0 spec only has enough bandwidth for 4K at 60Hz. You will, therefore, need to use DisplayPort to utilize the monitor’s capabilities properly.
As mentioned, the monitor comes with NVidia’s new G-Sync HDR spec; the new spec adds support for HDR10, allowing monitors to deliver a darker darks and brighter whites while balancing the brightness accurately. Of course, couple this with G-Sync’s existing features that remove tearing, etc. and you have something amazing to gawk at.
AMD’s recently announced FreeSync 2.0 does pretty much the same thing; though, that will take a bit longer to hit the market.
In addition to HDR, ASUS has built 384 individual zones for LED backlight in this beast. These LEDs are controlled dynamically, resulting in better contrast for dark screens as well as some power saving as they turn off when not in use.
Asus, with all this tech built into this monitor, stands in a unique position; it’s a gaming monitor, but it the DCI-P3 color gamut standard, which is mostly used for digital cinema. It’s very rare to find a gaming monitor that’s also great at color reproduction.
Pricing & Availability
Asus says the display will hit the stores sometime in the second quarter of 2017; here comes the price: $1,199.
That’s quite a lot of money for a monitor, but it perhaps deserves it – there’s an incredible amount of technology built into this thing.


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To launch Modern Warfare II, the latest release from the Call of Duty franchise, Amplify, the global creative agency specialising in experience and culture, showcased the game’s central characters in bespoke anamorphic billboards in London, Los Angeles and New York.
Modern Warfare II OOH launch
Smashing through the screen, the spot shows Sergeant Johnny MacTavish, attempting a mission by cracking through a glass door.
Lieutenant Simon Riley, also known as Ghost, then commands attention as he appears from the undergrowth wearing night-vision goggles.
Tyler Bahl, VP and Head of Marketing, Call of Duty, said: “The scope and scale of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II demanded a larger-than-life global campaign.
“We partnered with Amplify to create anamorphic 3D OOH, which provided the canvas and technology to use our iconic heroes in a massive show-stopping way.
“It extended far beyond the locations themselves and we saw huge amplification and resharing throughout our community.”
Amplify’s CCO Jeavon Smith commented: “In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II the ultimate weapon is team.
“So we created a real world narrative, showcasing the central characters across anamorphic canvases – as Taskforce 141 ‘Go Dark’ in New York and London.
“A format breaking immersive OOH campaign, that sees operators infiltrate iconic locations around the world.
Amplify collaborated with Inertia Studios on the 3D anamorphic with London’s Piccadilly Lights providing a perfect spot for the action, a bespoke ad featuring the other Taskforce 141 operators was placed in New York’s Times Square.
Earlier this month, Amplify worked with Territory Studios to tease the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, with a takeover of SoFi Stadium’s ‘Oculus’ Video Board, which features 80 million pixels.
Modern Warfare II is available worldwide now.


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The U.S. software industry continues to be an essential part of the national economy, often valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars. By all estimates, steady growth in the value and impact of the software industry will not slow down in 2018, aided by the continued evolution of software sectors and trends, such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, enterprise, cybersecurity, blockchain, and IoT, among others. It therefore remains essential that software development companies take all reasonable measures to protect their software.
Maximizing the protection and value of intellectual property assets is often the cornerstone of a business's success and even survival. In this blog, Nutter's Intellectual Property attorneys provide news updates and practical tips in patent portfolio development, IP litigation, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and licensing.


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Australian property development company Stockland has announced JB HI-FI has acquired a new 18,023 sqm delivery centre in Melbourne’s western industrial precinct.
Location technology specialist TomTom has released the results of a report detailing traffic congestion from 57 countries around the world.
LOGOS has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a strategic asset in Truganina, one of Melbourne’s prime industrial suburbs, via an off market deal.
The asset on completion will provide a purpose built facility offering 48,770sqm of GLA for an initial ten year term. The deal is anticipated to complete in early 2020.
Located at 30 Logistics Drive, the 8.5 hectare property benefits from direct access to Melbourne’s key arterial road networks, including the Princes Highway, West Gate Freeway and Western Right Road.
“The Melbourne logistics market continues to perform strongly and we are pleased to be able to strengthen our foothold in this strategic market. LOGOS’ Melbourne portfolio now stands at circa 350,000sqm with an additional 27 hectares of development land at our Truganina Logistics Estate. We are a strong advocate of the benefits that western Melbourne provides Victorian and Australian supply chains and are confident we will see strong rental growth and tenant demand over the coming years in this area as a result of the diminishing supply of available zoned and serviced land,” Darren Searle, LOGOS’ Head of Australia and New Zealand said.
Truganina is a well-established industrial suburb which includes facilities for a number of large format logistics operators, including FMCG/Supermarket operators, e-commerce operators and 3PL groups.
LOGOS’ Australian portfolio, which spans New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, has a target end value of over $4.2 billion.
Toyota Australia together with Toyota Material Handling Australia and Toyota Fleet Management, will be introducing a fleet of autonomous Autopilot vehicles in to its Altona warehouse from its operation start in 2020.
Manufactured in Sweden by Toyota Material Handling Europe, the fleet itself will consist of six Autopilot Tow Trucks (TAE500) and one Autopilot Reach Truck (RAE160), the flagship model when it comes to warehouse automation.
They will apply Autopilot driverless technology to achieve mobility in conveyance, towing, lifting, and be able to autonomously place product throughout the warehouse and pick orders for customers.
All models in the range will also have the ability to be used in manual mode as conventional warehouse vehicles allowing complete flexibility in operations.
In addition to enhanced safety, Autopilot will also deliver energy efficiencies via Lithium-Ion battery technology, automatic charging, high vehicle utilisation, and low maintenance costs.
Toyota Australia Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Sean Hanley, said the mobility company has a thorough understanding and appreciation of the importance of automation technology.
“Toyota Australia will continue to develop, progress, and employ these new ways of thinking whenever possible. We are extremely committed to delivering the highest level of reliability, performance, and productivity, and Autopilot ticks every one of these boxes,” Sean said.
NewCold, a global cold logistics company, has announced that Abhy Maharaj will join the company as its Global Chief Commercial Officer & Chief Operating Officer, effective 1 July 2019. Abhy will be based in Melbourne.
Headquartered in The Netherlands, the company has eight locations in three continents; offers over 800,000 pallet positions and has a team of around 750 employees, recently opening two new facilities in Melbourne, Australia.
In this new role, Abhy Maharaj will work closely with Bram Hage, Founder and Executive Officer, and the Global Management Team of NewCold on the company’s overall strategy and execution and will oversee NewCold’s business planning, marketing, business development and operating efficiency. Abhy will be based in Melbourne, so that he is close to business expansion opportunities in Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and China.
“I am pleased to have someone with Abhy’s experience on our leadership team as we accelerate our growth into a fully-fledged multi-national with highly automated supply chain solutions across all key cold-chain growth markets. Abhy will strengthen our commercial disciplines, customer relationships and strategic execution,” Bram Hage, Founder and Executive Office said.
Abhry has more than 20 years’ experience in global corporate management, strategic and commercial development, and creating and implementing high-growth strategies for disruptive technologies and solutions. He previously held senior positions with Air New Zealand and Fonterra Dairy Co-operative.
Australian advanced manufacturing company Titomic Limited has announced it has signed an agreement with The Boeing Company to deliver additively manufacturing test parts for airplanes. This initial agreement is for AUD$170,000.
“Titomic is pleased to announce this trial agreement with Boeing to deliver additively manufacturing test parts for airplanes. Currently, with traditional manufacturing process, there is up to an 80% material waste and 6-month lead time to CNC machine these parts. These Titomic Kinetic Fusion (TKF) produced parts will allow Boeing a significant reduction in lead-times, improved performance for composite part production and cycle times,” Jeff Lang, Titomic Managing Director said.
Titomic recently unveiled the world’s largest and fastest 3d printer.
Kaufland, one of the world’s largest supermarket chains, has confirmed it will open its first Australian distribution centre at Merrifield Business Park in Melbourne’s north.
The supermarket chain has purchased a large 28-hectare site on which it plans to construct a 110,000 square metre purpose-built distribution centre that will service their stores.
The facility will be one of the largest of its kind in Australia and feature extensive temperature controlled storage, the latest automated warehousing with a 40 metre high-bay storage as well as a 3,600 square metre office. The total investment in the facility is upwards of $450 million.
The facility is expected to bring an additional estimated 600 jobs to the local area upon completion.
The retailer, which is owned by Schwarz Group, the fourth largest retail chain in the world, selected Merrifield Business Park due to its strategic location on the Hume Freeway and proximity to Melbourne.
It is the fourth major deal for MAB Corporation and its partner Gibson Property Corporation at Merrifield Business Park, with Kaufland joining Dulux, D’Orsogna and Steritech in Victoria’s largest business park.
A Kaufland spokesperson said: “Our new state of the art distribution centre at Merrifield Business Park will be the company’s single biggest investment in Australia and enable Kaufland’s expansion. Merrifield was selected for its strategic location and ability to cater for future expansion of the facility.”
Texas-based Emergent Cold has announced the acquisition of the Montague Cold Storage facilities in Melbourne.
According to Emergent Gold, this acquisition complements its broader strategy of acquiring and developing a global network of cold chain businesses.
Montagues was founded in 1948, by William (Bill) Montague OAM by purchasing a carting operation that turned the Montague name into a fresh food provider. The first orchard was planted at Narre warren, Victoria in 1950. Innovation continued with the introduction of Controlled Atmosphere storage to Australia in 1967, followed by their first cold storage facility at Allansford in 1989.
“We want to thank all the executives and staff who have contributed to this wonderful business over 60 years. The Montague family and management team will be focussing our energy and future endeavours in the horticultural industry, where there are many exciting opportunities both nationally and internationally,” Ray Montague, Chairman of Montague Group said.
Emergent Cold was founded in 2017 with the vision to build a global cold chain solution for multinational customers. Emergent Cold has grown through a combination of business acquisitions and greenfield developments in emerging and developing markets.
“We are delighted to welcome the Montague Cold Storage team to the Emergent Cold network. Combining Montague’s assets with our national service capability will further strengthen our offering to the Australian and International market,” Neal Rider, CEO of Emergent Cold said.
The Andrews Labor Government has announced a new cabinet, including new appointments for roads, transport and freight portfolios, following its re-election in Victoria.
Jacinta Allan, formerly Minister for Public Transport and Employment, has been given the Transport Infrastructure portfolio in the new cabinet.
“The Andrews Government is embarking on the biggest infrastructure program Victoria has ever seen,” according to a statement from Premier Daniel Andrews’ office.
“To ensure this is delivered, Jacinta Allan takes on the portfolio of Transport Infrastructure, with responsibility for projects including the Level Crossing Removal Program, North East Link, West Gate Tunnel, Metro Tunnel and Suburban Rail Loop.”
Ms. Allen leads an all-female transport team with Melissa Horne made Minister for Public Transport and Minister for Ports and Freight, while Jaala Pulford takes on the Roads, Road Safety and the TAC, and Fishing and Boating portfolios.
Luke Donnellan moves on as Minister for Roads and Road Safety to become Minister for Child Protection and Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers.
Construction is one of the largest industries in the world economy – worth $10 trillion globally – equivalent to 13 per cent of GDP.
But, Professor Jay Sanjayan, from Swinburne University of Technology, explains that construction has suffered for decades from remarkably poor productivity compared to other sectors.
While agriculture and manufacturing have increased productivity 10-15 times since the 1950s, construction remains stuck at the same level as 80 years ago, he said.
“That’s because construction remains largely manual, while manufacturing and other industries have made significant progress in the use of digital, sensing and automation technologies.
“We and other research groups see 3D-printed concrete as a possible solution to these problems. The technique will likely also give architects the freedom to inject more creativity into their designs for new structures,” said Sanjayan.
Modern civil infrastructure is almost entirely built with concrete. More than 20 billion tons of concrete is used per year, Sanjayan explains.
“The only material we use more than that is water.
“The construction industry is facing a number of serious problems, including low labour efficiency and high accident rates at construction sites.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the construction industry has the highest rate of work-related injuries at 59 per 1000 workers.
There are also difficulties in quality control at construction sites, high levels of waste and carbon emissions, cost blow-outs, and challenges in managing large worksites with a vanishing skilled workforce.
Disruptive technologies such as 3D concrete printing can offer solutions.
3D construction uses additive manufacturing techniques, which means objects are constructed by adding layers of material.
Conventional approaches to construction involve casting concrete into a mould.
But additive construction combines digital technology and new insights from materials technology to allow free-form construction without the use of formwork.
Eliminating the cost of formwork is the major economic driver of 3D concrete printing. Built using materials such as timber, formwork accounts for about 60 per cent of the total cost of concrete construction.
It’s also a significant source of waste, given that it is discarded sooner or later.


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Rohit Joshi and Siddharth Tak/ ZRG
India story has just acquired a new found bounce thanks to spate of announcements by multinational corporations to up their interest in the country. The level of heightened interest manifests itself in many forms ranging from increasing equity stake in their Indian arms to acquire stakes in companies in India.
The diversity of investments shows that MNCs are bullish on India across consumption driven sectors. Earlier during the first quarter of the calendar, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) too turned net investors in India. However, during April, there was observed a fall in the interest level. Considering the monthly average FII flows of about Rs 18,500 crore in the first quarter of the calendar, the figure has fallen drastically to around Rs 4,000 crore in April.
Companies like Panasonic (Japan), LG Electronics (South Korea), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (UK), Unilever PLC (UK), Honda Motor (Japan), Air Asia (Malaysia), Etihad Airways (UAE) have announced plans in the recent past to mark their optimisim at a time when the overall growth indicators in the country are headed south.
Companies related to consumer durables segment like Panasonic and LG are betting high on Indian markets. While Japan’s Panasonic Corp plans to invest around Rs 1500 crore over the next three years for expansion, Korea’s LG Electronics expects that India will be amongst its top three markets within three years. India is currently its fifth biggest market globally after US, South Korea, Brazil and Russia.
Consumer goods companies also foresee tremendous growth opportunities in India. Anglo-Dutch company, Unilever has announced to raise its stake in Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) to 75 per cent. Unilever plans to acquire up to 48.7 crore shares through open offer at Rs 600 per share. This suggests that Unilever would be spending around Rs 29,200 crore in the open offer to increase its stake in HUL. Similarly, in 2012 India has now emerged as the largest contributor to the global revenues of London based, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH). In February 2013, parent GlaxoSmithKline nearly spent Rs 5,222 crore to increase its stake in the Indian unit to 72.46 per cent.
Confirming the trend, Sudip Bandopadhyay, President at Destimoney Securities, said, “Although we have slowed down a bit yet Indian consumption story is still much more robust when compared to nations like US and Europe. The global giants who operate across the world find Indian markets still very attractive owing to the huge population and consumption story.”
In sync with Bandopadhyay, V Srinivasan, Research Analyst at Angel Broking, who tracks FMCG sector closely said, “Barring a short-term blip, the long term Indian consumption story is always intact. Furthermore, consumer industry is a recession proof one and the consumption would certainly get a boost as overall economic growth improves along with normal monsoon. The promoters’ money is not hot money as they invest with a long term perspective.”
The trend can also be witnessed in the consumer discretionary segment like cars. Although car sales in India have plunged by about 7 per cent in last fiscal (first decline in a decade), yet global automakers like Honda recently announced an investment of Rs 2,500 crore to double its capacity in India.
In aviation sector too, long term investors have started to show interest in India’s story after government allowed foreign airlines to acquire stake in Indian carriers. UAE based Etihad Airways has acquired 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. This strategic investment has given Etihad an opportunity to access the growing Indian travel market. Knowing the potential of the sector, even AirAsia-Tata Sons joint venture is all set to start operations within India.


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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - In honor of President Trump's arrival to the Rocket City, one Huntsville beer shop is raising a glass to the Commander-In-Chief.
"We wanted to welcome the President into town today," said Matt Fowler, Managing Partner at the Old Town Beer Exchange. "We really feature mostly craft beers by the great breweries here in Huntsville and North Alabama."
But every now and again, they bring something in that`s a little special.
"Seasonal beers during the holidays that we might not normally carry," says Fowler.
Or in today`s case, Mexican beers Dos Equis and Modelo. They say they are working to build a wall, of money, through the sales of these two beers. The plan is to donate a portion of the sales to relief efforts in Mexico after the deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook the country.
"[We] Just wanted to raise some money for them today by maybe getting some attention by selling Mexican beer on the day the President comes to town," says Fowler.
Gordon Macgregor comes to the Old Town Beer Exchange often and says with today`s cause, he had to stop by for a quick brew.
"I thought it was a great idea," says Macgregor.
He came in for his favorite drink-- not a Dos Equis or Modelo, but made sure to add a contribution to the bucket instead.
"I would do anything I could to help raise money to rescue the people, clean up the buildings," says Macgregor.
And what a refreshing way to do it.
So cheers to helping others, as OTBX raises a glass to El Presidente.
"We really want to welcome him to town too- and hope he does stop by," says Fowler.
Both the Dos Equis and Modelo are $3 on draft.
Old Town Beer Exchange actually carries wines from the Trump winery. They say the President should be happy to know -- they're currently sold out.


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Steve Smith, one of the nation’s most successful tea salesmen, presented his case for expanding the tea business during the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) CoffeeTea&Water show this week at Bally’s in Las Vegas. One of the show’s keynote speakers, Smith gave an overview of the production and preparation methods as well as an in-depth analysis of the tea market, which he sees as growing.
Smith brought an impressive resume to his presentation. He founded some of the most successful tea companies – Stash Tea Co. and Tazo Tea – and he currently operates Steven Smith Teamaker.
Smith sees tea as having great growth potential if tea providers can focus on providing better quality tea.
He said tea is underappreciated in the U.S. because many growers and packagers focus more on price than on quality. He noted that serving have improved a lot over the years, which create new opportunities for tea.
“We’re gradually changing that (underappreciation),” he said. “Younger consumers want more choices and flavors. There is also a certain hipness to drinking tea that didn’t exist before.”
Smith came to the tea business from humble beginnings. He started Stash Tea Co. in the early 1970s after operating a natural food store. Stash Tea Co. supplied tea to schools, stores, offices and vending operators.
From humble beginnings, Stash Tea Co. became the second largest supplier of specialty teas to foodservice.
Smith sold Stash Tea Co. in1993 to a Japanese company and focused his attention on the iced tea market.
He launched Tazo Tea and took an innovative marketing approach; the company used humor in its advertising.
More importantly, Smith believed that tea could command a premium price based on higher quality. “It was a brand that appealed to those new to tea,” he said. He said the company found that consumers were less sensitive about the price of good tea.
Smith stayed with Tazo Tea for seven years after Starbucks acquired the company in 1999. Under Starbucks, Tazo Tea grew to $1.3 billion in annual sales.
This year, Smith founded Steven Smith Teamaker in Portland, Ore.
Smith then reviewed cultivation, manufacturing and preparation of tea.
He said tea is cupped, similar to coffee, to determine its value.
In recent years, herbal infusions have entered the market and are often associated with tea, even though they are not tea, Smith said.
In reviewing the tea market, he noted that plain tea sales are flat but specialty teas are increasing by 10 percent per year and green tea sales have jumped 500 percent in the last five years.
Smith said market observers expect tea sales to reach $15 billion in sales by 2014, but he thinks the market will be larger. “I would say that the number is grossly understated,” he said. He estimates the market will reach $20 billion in the next two years.
One of the biggest challenges that retailers have faced is shortening the preparation time. Traditional tea bags take five minutes to properly infuse.
He noted that the Flavia brew-by-pack system from Mars Drinks allows shorter preparation time. Mars Drinks worked with Smith in launching the Bright Tea Co., which offers a large variety of teas and herbal infusions. Bright Tea offerings are available in packs that are brewed in Flavia machines.
The tea industry’s challenge is to meet the demand of today’s younger consumers, who want convenience and choice, Smith said. “We do this, and tea will become more relevant,” he said.


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A partnership for the next step in ‘PC revolution’
MANILA, Philippines — In the world of mobile computers, two features stand above everything else: battery life and Internet connectivity.
Everything else follows.
A partnership between worldwide computer processor manufacturer, Intel Philippines, and one of the country’s telecommunications service providers, Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company, aim to kickstart the computer revolution by providing battery life and Internet connectivity and more.
“What we are seeing today is the next step in the PC Revolution,” Uday Marty, the newly appointed Intel Director for South East Asia, said in an interview during the event March.
PLDT launched its PLDT WiFi Zones that would give its subscribers the same strong connections that they have at home while Intel launched its Ultrabook laptop PCs that would give users longer battery life for greater mobility and better performance and security for better dependability.
There are currently more than 2,500 PLDT WiFi Zones all over the Metro and also in Cebu and Baguio cities. The WiFi Zones uses a dedicated line to provide fast and unlimited internet connection to PLDT myDSL subscribers for an additional P150 to their monthly service fee. PLDT landline subscribers pay an additional P300.
Ultrabooks are a new computer platform that is expected to change the standard for laptop computers with its “best-in-class performance, improved responsiveness, improved battery life, built-in security features, and a thin, elegant, lightweight design.”
“Intel’s partnership with PLDT addresses a new era of computing experience that is underway, and ensures that the consumer’s expectations for a secure, mobile and powerful device are met through the Ultrabook,” Ricky Banaag, Intel Philippines Country Manager, said in their statement.
Through their partnership, they want to address the growing need of Filipinos to connect and remain on the go.
Banaag said in a presentation that Filipinos were very enthusiastic digital consumers with an estimated 32 million Filipinos connected to the Internet.
He also said that an estimated 26 million Filipinos were active in the popular social networking site Facebook, while there was an estimated 11 million online gamers.
Filipinos are also ranked first when it comes to online video consumption and fourth when it comes to blog activity.
On twitter, there is an estimated 5.1 million Filipino twitter users, amounting to almost 16.1 percent of the total number of twitter users worldwide, making the Philippines the 4th largest market in Asia.
“With social media usage and content consumption quickly becoming and indispensable part of people’s daily lives, the collaboration between Intel and PLDT will expand opportunity for continued innovation in these areas, as they work towards increased computing performance and seamless wireless connections,” Intel said in their statement.
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.


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5 High-Conviction Global Investments in a COVID-19 World
We told investors last month that our view on the situation surrounding COVID-19 is a balanced one. That largely remains the case today and the Fund still has dry powder but, with major indices down around 35% from highs at points during the month, we grew decidedly more opportunistic and the Fund was a net buyer.
On the one hand, the virus blew past early containment efforts and created an economic shock and public health crisis that has not been rivalled in our lifetimes. Sadly, most governments were half-hearted in their initial approach to containing the virus while some are still not taking it seriously enough.
On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons for long-term optimism, the most fundamental of which is that patient investors have historically outperformed speculators who dart in and out of the market. Beyond that, we’ve observed the following:
Social distancing and containment efforts have been embraced in most developed countries and we’ve already seen inflection points on new confirmed cases in China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, and the state of California, which is the world’s fifth largest economy.
Effective, low-cost means of reducing the spread including temperature checks, wearing masks, and washing hands with soap are becoming more widely adopted.
Existing medical supply companies as well as non-traditional contributors such as automakers are rapidly scaling the production of badly needed medical supplies including masks and ventilators. The supply of tests is also quickly rising and new ones on the way will provide results in minutes, not days.
The medical community is learning more about the virus as we go and the World Health Organization is now trailing four different drug treatments for COVID-19.
Money is close to free with interest rates at or near their all-time lows in most markets.
The gross leverage of the world’s 50 largest banks by total assets is 32% lower today than it was when the world was heading into a crisis in 2007, per data we’ve crunched from S&P Capital IQ. This suggests the financial system is far better placed to handle a shock than previously.
Governments and central banks the world over are unleashing wave after wave of fiscal and monetary stimulus that is unprecedented in its speed, scale, and scope, best embodied by the nickname of the Federal Reserve’s newest program: QEinfinity.
We want to be clear: we take this virus seriously and expect every facet of this situation to get worse before it gets better. That’s why we went into March with a meaningful cash position and started working from home across the business weeks before others were nudged to do so. But here’s the rub: the view that things will get worse before they get better has swung from non-consensus six weeks ago to consensus today, as evidenced by most major indices down around a quarter to a third below their February highs despite all of the existing and potential responses we named before.
We will not pretend to know when or where markets will bottom, however, the consensus is already so negative that any hints of an inflection point with COVID-19 or the economy would send share prices higher. What’s more, investors who are waiting for the economy to bottom out before buying again will likely have missed the turn in the market. For example, even if you had known for certain that October 2009 would mark the peak of US unemployment and had waited until that turn in the economy to invest, you would have missed a 64% rally from the March lows. Markets look forwards, not backwards.
Two other points before diving into our holdings. First, as long-term investors, whether we pay $0.60 or $0.70 for a stock intrinsically worth $1 today is not of huge consequence to us if that stock is worth $2 five years from now. Second, we would not underestimate the resolve of governments or central banks to stabilise the economy and pacify financial markets. No, showering financial markets with liquidity does not solve the underlying problem, but it goes a long way towards de-risking markets and supporting the prices of financial assets (e.g. shares).
The Fund was a net buyer of shares during the month but in a very focused manner. We reduced or exited companies that have outsized exposure to demand, supply, operational, or financial risks caused by the outbreak and containment initiatives. Conversely, we actively increased the Fund’s holdings in companies with strong balance sheets, highly loyal customers, digital-first business models, and those with network dynamics where adoption curves might be pulled forward based on changes in how we all live, work, learn, and play. In other words, we are leaning even harder than usual into our preferred style of companies.
We have moved to be a touch more concentrated than usual in its best ideas, as very few businesses are built to weather such an environment. Supporting that view is research by UBS which shows 85% of all Australian companies that have updated the market since this outbreak began have either withdrawn or reduced guidance, with only 13% reaffirming and a lonely 2% upgrading. We’re yet to receive formal updates from most holdings on how business is faring but feel good about our positioning given the backdrop.
Reviewing our Top 5 Holdings
Given the fast changing situation we thought we 'd briefly review the current environment affecting the outlook for our largest holdings:
Facebook will face short-term headwinds via a weak advertising market, however, we expect online advertising spend to hold up better than other forms of marketing spend that have fading relevance and unclear returns on investment (e.g. radio, TV, print, billboard). Usage is also spiking in areas where social distancing is now prevalent, which is currently most of the developed world, and while we expect that to cool off it will have brought more users onto Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger plus better engaged existing users. Facebook is also scoring points with governments right now for partnering on spreading helpful information about the ongoing crisis. Put all that together with US$55 billion in net cash and the least demanding valuation since listing and it is easy to see why we like Facebook’s range of outcomes.
PayPal has long gobbled up share of online payments, which itself is gobbling up share of total commerce. The economic slowdown will hurt discretionary spending and cross border trade, however, social distancing is pushing current online shoppers to do more shopping at home, which plays into PayPal’s hands, and is also driving consumers who haven’t made the jump to shopping online to give it a whirl. It helps that the business is profitable, cashed up, and should be able to play offense during a tough time, plus the shares trade at a discount to historical norms despite the pulling forward of adoption.
Adyen is in many ways similar to PayPal wherein the company earns the majority of its revenues online, has a huge cash pile, and is extremely profitable. We expect revenue growth to slow down due to some exposure in travel but expect some offset from clients which see an increased demand through online channels. More than 80% of the company’s growth comes from the expansion of transaction volumes from existing clients, so we don’t expect changes to be too drastic. Also, Adyen generates the same revenue on payment volume whether it is made domestically or internationally, so it is shielded from less cross border trade.
Alphabet should experience similar dynamics to Facebook in terms of a weak advertising market but increased usage of some core platforms (e.g. YouTube, Android, and Google Cloud) and increased awareness of others (e.g. Google Classroom and the G Suite cloud productivity suite). Alphabet is also absurdly cashed up with around US$116 billion in net cash, or about 15% of the company’s market capitalisation, which could allow for well-timed acquisitions or share repurchases plus the ability to continue to reinvest in the business against the cycle. Meanwhile, the shares are trading for their lowest multiple of forward consensus earnings in three years.
Amazon has held up strongly as social distancing has driven new users to flock to the platform and for existing users to buy more goods, consume more digital media, and presumably upgrade to Amazon Prime at higher rates. In fact, business is booming to the degree that the company announced it is hiring 100,000 new workers in the US to deal with an unprecedented surge in demand. Meanwhile, in the fast-growing and high-margin Amazon Web Services business, while office closures and social distancing has probably tripped up deals that were close to closing, we expect those same trends to drive usage higher and dramatically underscore the value proposition of cloud offerings, pulling the adoption curve forward in the process. Despite those game-changes in demand and the strong relative performance of the shares, Amazon still sells for a modest discount to its recent history in terms of enterprise value relative to forecast gross profit.
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The COVID-19 pandemic and the China-US trade war have both played a big part in the troubles affecting the leather industry.
Hundreds of thousands of dead animals are at risk of being left uncollected on farms because of a collapse in the price of leather to levels last seen in the 1970s.
The crisis has left companies that collect dead animals from farms for their hides scrambling to avoid severe economic losses by making farmers pay to have the corpses taken away.
Derek Ramsay handles international trade and specialty products for the Alliance Group, a farming co-operative exporting lamb, beef, venison and other products.
He said leather prices were declining anyway, but the situation was made worse by US President Donald Trump's tariffs and COVID-19 on the Indian sub-continent.
When Trump imposed tariffs on leather, many of China's tanneries closed and businesses relocated to India and Pakistan.
"The economics of making leather didn't work any more," said Ramsay.
"But COVID has been quite aggressive in India and Pakistan. The tanneries have been closed for three to four months now, even out to the end of August. That essentially means all the orders we have to ship are on hold. So the question remains, will the tanneries reopen."
Many fashion houses are also moving away from leather, finding alternative products.
Ramsay said despite these problems, his company had been able to sell calf and some cow hides, partly because of economies of scale and alternative sources of income unavailable to smaller firms collecting casualty cows.
But even his company has seen the economics of sheep skins and many cow hides collapse.
"Alliance has been proactive in expanding its sustainable waste management systems for skins, like composting.
"Ultimately, animal skins are an abundant source of collagen. So it is possible the skin use transitions to collagen over the coming years."
Collagen is widely used in medicine and cosmetics.


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For Immediate Release: July 25, 2011
HONOLULU –The state extended the deadline to January 31, 2012 for residents to apply for rebates on new electric or hybrid electric/gasoline cars and chargers.
From early January to mid-July, 128 rebates have been approved for 68 electric vehicles and 60 chargers, with $1,068,988 remaining in funding.
“We want to empower more Hawaii residents with the opportunity to contribute to Hawaii’s goal of becoming more energy efficient and increase our energy security,” said Estrella Seese, acting energy program administrator for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s Energy Office. “Our top economic priority as a state is energy independence. The extension of the rebates for electric vehicles and chargers is good news for consumers who wish to purchase them.”
Electric vehicles are twice as energy efficient as the average gasoline-powered car. The rebates are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Rebate forms are available on DBEDT’s Energy office website at https://electricvehicle.hawaii.gov.
Hawaii residents can apply for state rebates of up to $4,500 on purchases of electric vehicles and up to $500 for electric vehicle chargers through the Hawaii Electric Vehicle (EV) Ready Program. In addition to the State EV rebates, federal tax incentives of up to $7,500 are also available for highway-capable vehicles (the Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle credit, which applies to at least 200,000 units per auto manufacturer before it phases out) and up to $1,000 for individual buyers and $30,000 for businesses installing EV charger stations. This allows for the potential of up to $13,500 in rebates and tax credits for an individual.
The state anticipates an increase in consumer demand for new electric vehicles for the last quarter of this year and extended its original deadline for tax rebates from September 2011 for another four months.
Hawaii is among the states designated for early release of the first EVs produced by manufacturers such as the Nissan Leaf, Wheego Life, GM Volt, and Mitsubishi i (MiEV). Many manufacturers are continuing to choose Hawaii as an ideal location, for many reasons including:
• Consumers’ high level of enthusiasm to adopt electric transportation. Hawaii has the largest number of reservations per capita in the country for the Nissan Leaf.
• Favorable electricity time-of-use EV charging rates from electric utility companies.
• Moderate climate, limited driving distances, and strong tourism industry are ideal for EV utilization.
• DBEDT’s Hawaii Electric Vehicle EV Ready Program has provided $2.6 million in grants for the systematic installation of electric vehicle chargers across the state; public education and outreach including an EV Ready Guidebook; introduction of EVs to rental car and County fleets, car-sharing services within the hospitality industry; and an online permitting system for charger installations at single-family residences on Oahu.
The EV Ready Program is funded by $1.4 million in Federal stimulus funds administered by DBEDT.
The State of Hawaii’s economic enterprise is to pursue energy independence by building a clean energy economy and reaching 70 percent clean energy by 2030. The DBEDT State Energy Office’s mission is to act as a catalyst for efficiency measures, renewable energy resources, transportation initiatives, green jobs, and investments in Hawaii’s economy. For more information, visit www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/energy.
For more information, contact:
Acting Energy Program Administrator
DBEDT’s State Energy Office
Phone: (808) 586-2352
DBEDT’s State Energy Office
Phone: (808) 587-9006


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It was only a matter of time before the legendary 997 silhouette was given the deconstructed treatment, and we’re definitely not mad at it.
Taiwanese store PHANTACi are celebrating their 10 year anniversary this year, and to celebrate, they’ve teamed up with New Balance to release a collaboration on the New Balance 997.5.
So we had seen the teaser images and the samples last year, but after much waiting, we finally see full images of the highly anticipated New Balance 997.5 x Sneaker […]
You may know size? as that retailer which is on every high street in the country and has been branching out into Europe over the last couple of years, but […]
You may remember when New Balance collaborated with Wings & Horns on a blacked out MT580 in 2014, well in celebration of the silhouettes 20th anniversary, the iconic trail shoe […]


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BOTTEGA VENETA: BACK TO ITS NICHE
Byline: Anamaria Wilson
NEW YORK — It’s good to be owned by Gucci.
After being acquired by Gucci Group last February, Bottega Veneta is being overhauled. The company’s New York store at 635 Madison Avenue is one of the first significant manifestations of the new Bottega Veneta, and its new look will be unveiled today.
The redesign of the company’s stores, and its signature leather goods line, is being headed by Bottega’s new creative director, Tomas Maier, who joined earlier this year. The moves mark a return to the company’s heritage.
“Bottega is a niche brand, a niche company that made its success out of being absolutely luxury, absolutely discreet, absolutely high-quality craftmanship. Over the last several years, those values weren’t there anymore. What we want to do is bring the company back to its roots and its original values,” said Patrizio di Marco, president of Bottega Veneta Worldwide.
They have done that by giving the store a luxe, but spare, design. The 6,400 square feet of selling space over two floors, is modern and clean, but the heavy use of brown lends a relaxed, earthy feel. The walls and carpets are dark taupe; the custom cabinetry and woodwork is made of African Iroko wood, and the cushions and benches are in chocolate leather.
“The intent was to create an environment which gives a sense of luxury, but which is functional — where the product is the focus,” said di Marco.
Maier takes it a step further. “What I wanted to convey in the store’s concept is a sense of timelessness, where there is a sense of serenity and luxury,” he said.
Maier employed the same design philosophy in the leather goods line by firmly sticking to classic pieces and offering a small selection of more au courant styles such as woven fringed satchels.
The Madison Avenue store is the first flagship in a string of units Bottega plans to open over the next few years as it repositions the brand. Gucci plans to open Bottega stores in Paris, London, Milan, Chicago, San Jose and Costa Mesa, Calif., next year, as well as eight stores in Japan. Other locations are still in negotiation, di Marco said.
The new stores will be in addition to a refurbishment plan over the next year for the rest of Bottega’s stores, which include units in Dallas, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
While each store’s redesign will contain signature elements — like the taupe color palette, rich materials, brushed steel shelving and beige ultrasuede wall insets — the company is anxious to respect their unique architecture.
Currently, 70 percent of Bottega’s business is retail, while 30 percent is wholesale. The line is sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and other specialty stores.
Di Marco declined to reveal Bottega’s 2001 sales, or provide projections for the Madison Avenue store. Bottega had sales of $50 million in 2000.
But Gucci sees a bright future for Bottega. When it acquired Bottega earlier this year, Gucci’s president and chief executive officer, Domenico De Sole, told WWD that he had “ambitious plans” for the company. Gucci Group currently has a 78.5 percent stake in Bottega. Gucci had no comment on who owns the remaining shares.
The Madison Avenue store is the first to showcase Maier’s entire spring collection, the first that he designed for the house. Bottega’s signature “Intrecciato” weave is still in full force in roomy, slouchy hobo bags and totes. The color palette is more basic for spring, with many browns, black and whites as well as a handful of pieces with a shot of color — for spring, it’s a candied pink. Simple leather flats share the display space with stilettos and slides in exotic skins like crocodile and lizard.
Prices range from about $500 for a small woven doughnut sack to $13,000 for a large crocodile bag. Shoe prices range from $250 to $410 for leather slides, wedges and pumps, while crocodile pumps retail for $2,300.
By next season, the company expects to offer custom-made pieces in a selection of colors and skins. “The true idea of luxury is being able to have what you want, when you want it,” said Maier.
The company was founded in 1966 by Vittorio and Laura Moltedo and became known for its woven leather handbags and accessories. Part of its old-world charm includes its age-old artisans, who handcraft all of the Bottega pieces in its own factory in Vicenza, Italy.
In 1997, the company attempted to branch out into ready-to-wear. Under Gucci’s ownership, however, it was scrapped. “One thing that we did strategically, because it didn’t make sense from an economic point of view or in terms of what we intended to do strategically as to the repositioning of the brand, was to kill the ready-to-wear line,” said di Marco.
As for its position amongst Italian luxury brands, di Marco said: “There is no way whatsoever Bottega can compete in the same fashion style or lifestyle arena as the Pradas and Guccis of the world. Everyone has to be loyal to their DNA. And the DNA of this company is to be an artisanal company of very high quality.”


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If you're worried about how much Tencent is investing into companies, you won't like what just happened with Marvelous. The word came down today from both Famitsu and Bloomberg, as the deal actually went through on Sunday, May 25th. According to the report, Tencent, working through affiliate Image Frame Investment, will spend about 7 billion yen (which comes out to $65 million) to buy stock in Marvelous. They will then sell 8.62 million new shares for ¥576 apiece. Meanwhile, shareholders Amuse Capital and Nakayama Hayao will sell 2.83 million and 708,600 shares at the same price, respectively. Here's some added details on the deal from Bloomberg.
Marvelous plans to use the money to build out its existing game franchises and launch new ones over the next three years. Its current titles include Story of Seasons and Deamon X Machina. Tencent has been one of China's most aggressive overseas investors, backing everything from technology startups to coffee-and-donuts chain Tim Hortons Inc. Among game developers, Tencent has taken stakes in Epic Games Inc., the North Carolina-based company behind Fortnite, and South Korean studio Bluehole, which fostered PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. — Tencent and Marvelous have already been working together, with the Chinese company making a game with the Story of Seasons intellectual property. Marvelous said it decided to expand the relationship so it could invest more in its games, launch new initiatives and expand globally.
In the short-term, this gives Marvelous a lot of money to play with to see some of their projects through. Maybe even pushing some ideas in development to the forefront to get them into development early. In the long-term, it will mean that Tencent will now have a majority say over where the company heads in the future. It might give Marvelous a plug into the Chinese market they never had before, but more than likely, a lot of their content will end up with censored versions or Chinese-specific games that meet the standards of the country's government. We'll see how the relationship is affected in the next couple of years.


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In the late 2010s, the self-driving world summited the peak of inflated expectations and quickly spiraled into the trough of disillusionment. Now, we’re seeing cautious optimism that reminds us of a more realistic version of the mood a few years ago.
All in the last month...
Let’s start smol. Chipotle invested in Nuro, which also launched a delivery pilot with Domino’s in Houston, TX. AutoX, a Chinese startup, announced a development partnership with Honda. Huawei revealed that it’s working on a self-driving car.
Going bigger—Walmart took part in Cruise’s $2.75 billion funding round, which values the self-driving company at $30 billion. GM is the majority owner of Cruise, a Y Combinator alum that also counts Microsoft and Honda as investors.
Autonomous trucking company TuSimple went public, becoming the first pure-play, publicly traded AV company. “We’ve got a long way to go,” TuSimple CFO Pat Dillon told the Brew, “but I do think it’s important that we’re generating revenue.”
- TuSimple made $1.8 million in 2020—and lost $177.9 million—but Dillon said revenue will grow “substantially” in the coming years through its retrofitted fleet of 70 robo-trucks, an autonomous freight network, and eventually, purpose-built vehicles.
Delivery startup Udelv announced that it will deploy 35,000 “Transporters” between 2023–2028. Udelv said it’s already received a pre-order of 1,000 Transporters, which are compact AVs that will run on Intel’s Mobileye Drive.
The middle ground
Intel, which acquired Mobileye for $15.3 billion in 2017, considers its advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) business as the perfect hedge against the uncertainty of fully driverless tech.
- Mobileye sells to customers like VW, Nissan, and BMW. It also offers white-label ADAS systems to automakers.
- Mobileye has effectively crowdsourced mapping the world to auto customers—it collects 8 million kilometers (nearly 5 million miles) of data a day, Intel Fellow and Mobileye VP Jack Weast told the Brew.
“We have a very healthy business with driver assistance, so we can cash-flow the investment in a driverless future,” Weast said.
Weast foresees a future where driver assistance systems are going to be almost as capable as a driverless vehicle. These features will still require a driver in the loop for liability and regulatory reasons.
Big picture: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If recent news is anything to go off, some version of at-scale autonomy is nigh. Though we’ve heard this story before, we see indicators that it’s more realistic this time.
But, but but...Let’s assume self-driving technology is perfected (which it isn’t). There are still other pieces of the puzzle: 1) laws/regulation 2) the creation of a self-driving supply chain 3) mass production 4) consumer trust. —RD


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Said to be the world’s first flicker-free VA (Vertical Alignment) LED monitor, BenQ today has launched its brand new BenQ GW2760HS VA LED monitor here in Malaysia. While today is the first time that the new 27-inch 1920×1080 16:9 monitor been introduced to the members of the media, it was already available in our market since last month.
The secret of the flicker-free capability on the new BenQ GW2760HS VA LED monitor lies on its backlight circuit controller which is claimed to be able to remove LED backlight flickering from any brightness level. While the monitor is claimed to be the first in the world to feature such technology with more models to be released in the market soon by BenQ, the flicker-free technology somehow is not owned by BenQ themselves.
Article continues after the jump; click on the Read More link below to read further.
With a response time of 4ms GtG, the new BenQ GW2760HS also brings together all the benefit of VA LED panel said to have such as deeper blacks, minimized light leakage, true 8-bit color performance and 178/178 viewing angle. The monitor also features 3000:1 native contrast, Eye Protect Sensor that adjust the monitor’s brightness according to ambient light, Smart Reminder that notified user to rest every 20 minutes and BenQ’s in-house Senseye 3 automated monitor optimizer.
Built with a slim 11.5mm bezel, the BenQ GW2760HS VA LED also comes with several ports including HDMI, VGA and DVI together with headphone jack and line-in for its built-in 1W stereo speaker. Priced at RM 959, visit www.benq.com.my to learn more about the new BenQ GW2760HS VA LED monitor.